Frank Lampard delighted to be back at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea face Brighton

Chelsea manager eyes first win as Blues face Brighton

Frank Lampard has endured a tough start as Chelsea interim manager. Getty

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said he is pleased to return to the dugout at Stamford Bridge this weekend against Brighton & Hove Albion as he looks for his first win in his second stint at the London club.

Lampard took over as caretaker manager last week and has overseen two defeats - away at Wolves in the Premier League and at Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Brighton are seventh in the league, seven points ahead of 11th-placed Chelsea.

"I'm delighted to be back and the honour never falls short. I loved every minute and I'm happy to be back," Lampard was quoted as saying by Reuters ahead of Saturday's game.

"But the overriding feeling is focus on the job. I'll appreciate being back, but I'll have my serious face on."

Compounding their issues, Kalidou Koulibaly will not be available after the centre back injured his hamstring against Real Madrid, with the defender set for a spell on the sidelines.

Earlier, Lampard defended Chelsea's tactical approach after watching his side go down 2-0 to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.

Real's front three of Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo were at their best and caused Chelsea plenty of problems.

Vinicius in particular troubled Reece James and Wesley Fofana down the visitors' right, with Fofana receiving a yellow card after only five minutes for tripping the Brazilian on the halfway line.

Chelsea's plans were further thrown into disarray when Ben Chilwell was sent off on the hour mark for hauling down Rodrygo when he was the last man.

Lampard said he had hoped to be able to stifle the European champions' attack by selecting both Fofana and James on the right whie still allowing an attacking outlet for his side.

"Vinicius one-v-one is a big problem for any team," he said. "We wanted to be able to create two-v-one on that side of the pitch. It didn't help Fofana getting the yellow card so early, it makes you nervous about that.

"We want to not be a back five as much as we can, we tried to enforce that. With the ball we want to be a (back) three, we want to use the width of the pitch. I think we could have done that a bit better. It was a weapon to use for us today.

"In terms of the system, the thinking was very clear on that to deal with their threats, but also to give us, in possession, control of the game."